The following is a Public Service Announcement from the fans of the Calgary Flames... “EDMONTON is the worst thing since Hepatitis!” Wow...That’s kind of harsh isn’t it? But... that is what I read the other day. And, it came from a fairly respected source. However, just to be fair, let’s take an in depth look and see if indeed the Oilers are worthy of the reference.

Rexallitis A: Oilers’ Goaltending

The Oilers’ goaltending has been a position of contention, arguably since the days of Bill Ranford. Going into this season, Edmonton is going to face a gruelling learning curve that might turn out in their favour, but is more likely yet another source of frustration for the young club. Devan Dubnyk increased his work load by 84% from the 2009-10 season, but made little impact on the team considering he is going to carry the majority of the mail this year.

Player

GP

GA

GAA

W

L

SOL

Svs

Pct

Devan Dubnyk

35

93

2.71

12

13

8

1010

0.916

Nikolai Khabibulin

47

153

3.40

10

32

4

1236

0.890

Despite Dubnyk playing 12 less games than Khabibulin, he actually boasted a decent GAA and Sv%, especially for a second year goalie. It was actually his best numbers since 2006-07, when he posted a 2.56 GAA and 0.921 Sv% in 43 games with the ECHL Stocton Thunder. Then again, is there any real reason for optimism with this guy? The numbers seem fine until you come to the realization that he only played 35 games. Can Dubnyk pull out these same kinds of numbers when he is playing 60 + games? Despite the high aspirations the Oilers had in bringing Nikolai over from Chicago, he has been more of a liability for the team, than the asset he was once known as. Add to the fact that he is most likely one more back spasm away from Margaritaville, and the writing is pretty much all over the “Bulin Wall”. Was he too old to play the style he was known for and praised for on highlight reels? Maybe Nik was struck with a little bit of Rexallitis B?...What’s that?

Rexallitis B: Oilers’ Defence

Hey, don’t laugh. These ladies might have distracted opposition enough to have prevented more goals than the Oilers defence corps. Flat out, the Oilers D-men were brutal last year... and the year before that too. No doubt losing Ryan Whitney to injury was significant. He was the only D-man to have a positive +/-, at +13. Of course that may be misleading in that he only played in 35 games. Here is how the back end looked.

Player

GP

G

A

Pts

+/-

Corsi/60

GVT

2011 Sal

Ryan Whitney

35

2

25

27

13

-11.86

7.6

4 M

Tom Gilbert

79

6

20

26

-14

-3.36

3.4

4 M

Kurtis Foster

74

8

14

22

-12

-7.55

1.3

N/A

Jim Vandermeer

62

2

12

14

-15

-4.63

3

N/A

Theo Peckham

71

3

10

13

-5

-12.18

1.7

1.075 M

Ladislav Smid

78

0

10

10

-10

-6.03

-0.4

2.25 M

Jeff Petry

35

1

4

5

-12

0.11

-0.2

1 M

Jason Strudwick

43

0

2

2

-16

-19.37

-1.9

UFA

Taylor Chorney

12

1

3

4

-5

-15.02

0.3

735 K

*Cam Barker

51

1

4

5

-11

-14.12

-1

2.25 M

Hmmm, maybe it was the Edmonton defence that was distracted by the “flag bearers” above, because these are the kind of numbers that get your hockey card shoved into the spoke of some kid’s bike tire. As their Corsi shows, they were completely inept at driving the play north while on the ice. They were marginally significant offensively, and as their GVT rating shows, it wasn’t a stretch to replace these guys if need or want be. The addition of *Cam Barker to this squad leaves little hope to solve this issue either. Even though he wasn’t on the squad last year, I have included his numbers in the chart above, to show the Oilers lack of progression in this area. Barker becomes an RFA next season, so clearly this is an audition year to see if Barker can get his career going in the right direction.

Rexallitis C: Oilers’ Remission

Obviously the big white elephant here is the omission of the fab five of Hall, Paajarvi, Eberle, Omark and RNH. It’s the topic that has Oil fans dancing in the street. It’s the justification and vindication they’ve needed in light of the Oilers last place finishing over the past two years and the 10th worst team in the 2008-09 season. It is also going to be the strife and letdown for the future of the Oilers.

The way I see it, the Oilers took a dramatic step backwards in the 2011 draft. Many will say that is an absurd comment, but before you do... there is a method to my madness! There was no doubt that RNH was going to go first overall. Any team with the first pick would have been out right stupid to not draft Hopkins. So how did the Oilers make a miscalculation in indeed taking Hopkins first overall? They never should have drafted first overall. If the Oilers had taken off the RNH blinders and considered what an asset he could have been to their future, they would have traded the first overall pick.

The Oilers have a very formidable set of young forward prospects now. Why add another one, when the team is so desperate for help on the back end? Had the Oilers traded the first pick, they could have had extreme leverage over any team that came inquiring. They would have had teams lined up around Rexall to get that first pick. Basically, the Oilers could have used the availability of the pick to fix what was wrong with the team now and save what they will be in a few years.

I once heard that teams should never draft defensemen. The reason is that by the time they develop into their full potential, they are finished their entry level contracts, end up costing a fortune to re-sign and are usually lost to free agency. I agree with this and I don’t think the Oilers made a mistake in not drafting Larsson for this exact reason. Instead they drafted Klefbom later in the first round and they still get a solid defensive prospect they develop over time. However, if they had traded the first pick? They could have landed an established high-end #1 D-man. As we saw from the chart above, the Oil don’t have the luxury to develop a #1 D-man, they need help ASAP. With all of the moves made during free agency, the Oilers could have landed themselves immediate help on the back end, and that includes the possibility of landing Shea Webber.

Rexallitis D: Oilers’ Future

What happens when these entry level contracts all expire and these young superstars want to start seeing some real money? There are going to be a lot of tough decisions because the Oilers are not going to be able to sign and keep all these forwards. As I stated before, Edmonton doesn’t have the luxury of time to develop a #1 or #2 D-man. So if the goal is to fill this void immediately, they are going to have to buy them through free agency. According to CapGeek, the Oilers have four players signed through the 2013-14and just under $52 Million in cap space. Those four players are not Hall, Eberle, Omark or Paajarvi. Going by the chart above, the Oilers will have to fork out for probably two high end defensemen, to even give the corps a chance. That is going to run them somewhere in the neighbourhood of $10-15 Million for the pair, depending on who they try to sign.

If Dubnyk can’t carry the load of a 60+ game season, they also are going to have to look, once again, for a goaltender. Before anyone attributes Edmonton to the latest trend of signing goalies for cheap, keep in mind Edmonton is not Washington. They are not going to get Tomas Vokoun for $1.25 million. They are not Stanley Cup contenders; they are going to have to lure a top end goalie with money, not potential and opportunity. Teams like Chicago made successful runs with cheap goalies like Niemi, because they had the defence to keep the pressure off. Edmonton lacks this, and goalies know it. Look for a decent goaltending option to run them $4-5 million per.

Edmonton’s cap space now reduces to $38-32 Million. This number is reduced again because Omark actually becomes an RFA the previous year. Say Omark signs for even $2 Million? You also have to account for Hopkins being a full time player on the team; his entry level contract is $3.775 M, but becomes an RFA the next year. That leaves the Oilers an average of $30 Million to sign Hall, Eberle, Paajarvi.. and now factor in Klefbom.. Not to mention 13-15 more roster positions. Now there is no way to predict what these kids are going be offered or what they will expect. It will largely depend on their performance over the next couple of seasons.

However this leads to the conclusion of the Oilers’ problems. If the kids are a bust, then so will be the team and they will remain amongst the basement dwellers of the NHL. BUT... If the kids are “nice”, then there can be little doubt that they will want to be paid as such, and Katz and Lowe will find themselves in a severe Cap strain, with some tough decisions. Who will stay and who will go elsewhere Time will tell.

In the meantime Oilers fans; keep dancing in the streets. After all, ignorance is bliss... and well, its happy hour and that city is blissed out of its mind.

Vintage Flame is a Calgary based sports junkie that prefers to call hockey a "religion" rather than an addiction. He believes there are two types of hockey fans. Those who cheer for the Flames, and those who don't understand the sport yet. Follow Vintage_Flame on Twitter

Again, I'll say that the Oil do have prospects.. Never denied that. However one of the key parts of my position was, and is, that I don't think it's the best "asset management" to draft potential 'stud' defensemen with early picks. It was my opinion that D-men take longer to develop into elite players and that more times than not, a team faces a struggle to re-sign top level D-men once they have reached that level of play. The allure of free agency is too enticing to young players that are more apt to hitting the home run deals than to look 2, 3 or 4 years down the road and roll the dice with a team that is spinning it's wheels in a rebuild.

Yes, that is EXACTLY what I'm saying. RNH is a great junior player, but he's not the biggest guy and he hasn't played a minute in the NHL. He hasn't scored you one goal yet. The Oilers had the perfect opportunity to leverage fantastic and just a stupid level of hype on this kid and bring in an elite D-man that would have made your already offensively gifted forwards some room to do what they do best. They could have let these kids like Klefbom and Tuebert and such develop into something useful and productive instead of feeding them to the wolves. The numbers don't lie. Your defense is abysmal, and if you're relying on Cam Barker and Ryan Whitney to lead that core, then you are just giving me a ton of material to write with.

lap it up hemrhoids. lets pretend for one minute that it is true. check out the depth chart in waiting on hockeyfutures.com, surely not all of them will be a bust. Then again maybe our top prospects will demand trades to the Rangers..

Lap it up, enjoy another year of moral victories over the baby oil. After next year it is going to have to rain allot in Calgary so know one can see you crying! haha

p.s. great article I just hope one time both teams can be good at the same time so we can get some real battles brewing again.

Actually, I don't see a problem. It's actually a very nice position to be in. Lots of young high-end talent in the early to mid years of RFA. Nice looking prospects in the pipe line as well with probable one more lottery pick next year in a deep draft. The new CBA next year should provide clarity with regard to the CAP and maybe other things. Worse case - Oilers make trades to solidify additional future dominance. Just wish that your Flames would be competitive in a few years but alas I believe it shall not be. I really enjoyed the 80's rivalries.

Thank you!
Yeah, I get a little tired of the wait and see attitude being spouted year after year as well. Part of the reason I wrote this article is because I think the Oil fans are so blinded by the talent pool filling up that they don't see the consequences of the spill over effect.

When you keep collecting high level talent and year after year do nothing with it, you have to think the long term effect is not going to be good.

If the team is telling fans to wait and see, what are they telling these young players? If it's the same thing, they are in for a rude awakening come contract renewal time. Especially for a guy like Eberle. You don't think he's worried about seeing the same crap in edmonton that he was part of in Regina?

"And by the way what team/player was available to be traded for the 1st overall (RNH). I didn't hear any offers for that elite D-man. And how do you know there wasn't an effort?"

Come on man...

I have little to no doubt that if the Oilers had even told ONE team they were willing to deal the 1st overall pick, then word would have spread and the other teams in the league would have been setting up war rooms in Edmonton.

Its not a wait and see, you watch it grow from the ground up. You'll see the Barons progress by a year or two ahead of the Oil. We have our elite players, they just arent gunna take you to the cup in a year! The Barons made the Playoffs last year.

The rebuild started last year. Just like Baertschi (however its spelt) will be your Gagner, its all downhill from here for the flames, you just dont accept it yet. I wont fault you though because oilerfan was blind in those days as you are now. The thing is, that it takes luck to finish in 30th. Seriously. You can tank, no problem but its tough to win the lottery

Kane was the last piece in the Chicago puzzle, Staal was the last piece in the pens puzzle, Backstrom was the last piece in the Caps puzzle. Oiler fans are realistically optimistic. They dont think its a playoff guarantee this year, they think 10-12, they think that after this year, the playoff drought is over for a long time! If you choose to believe otherwise, you sir are in the large minority from commentary around the league, not just where the koolaid is sold. The Oilers system is DEEP, even with the likes of Hall, Ebs, MPS & Gagner not even listed as "prospects" anymore

Congratulations, VF. I'm not sure that Flames fans will appreciate if you make the Oilers, and Edmonton, a consistent topic for your posts, but it's your little part of the interwebs, go to town.

I'll agree with you on a few points (after all, I don't want to spoil your debut): the Oilers defence is bad, yep. But the defence has to grow and the price for picking up the back-end talents to fix this team overnight are just too steep. To advance defensively we'd be short-selling on our futures, and that's just not sane asset management. We've backed into this rebuild thing so the defensive prospects have come in later than the forwards and that means it has to grow and take time. Same with goaltending. But when the rebuild, or whatever you guys want to call it to save face, happens in Calgary it'll be the same thing. Probably unplanned. The defensive core is there and coming along, Petry is the start, with guys like Marincin, Klefbom, Musil, and Peckham as potential parts of that picture. Teubert, Simpson, Gernat, and Plante are forecast as being complimentary at this point, but again, it remains to be seen. You guys let Brett Hull and Martin St. Louis go, so you know that it's better to take your time and get a good look rather than let a gem slip by because you were impatient. All that aside, right now it's not pretty. But Oiler fans are okay with that because at the very least we have a direction and a decent chance at improvement with our prospects on the way.

Now, to disagree: you wanted us to trade away our chance at picking a potential 1st line centre? I'd expect a little more foresight from a blogger who covers the Flames. Hasn't there been a perennial search for a #1 centre to feed Iginla for about 5 or 6 years now? You've seen what trying to trade for one of these guys is like, so why wouldn't you take your shot at drafting him? Especially when you know you have another pick in the 1st round to use on a defenceman and that your team is probably going to be drafting in the top 10 the next year in a defence-deep draft. It was a smart, safe, and fore-sighted pick and we're all hoping it turns out when he plays here, be it this year or next.

I'll leave off the contract thing because I'm already going on too long. But you know, when you try and insult the Oilers about their prospects and future I can only think one thing: I thought you guys wore red, not green

33/16 = $2.0625M per player remaining. Even if you think the estimates above are low, an avg of over $2M per player leaves you quite a bit of room. Especially when alot of players will be on entry level deals on the 3/4th line for a couple years

I would just like to point out that Edmonton fans shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

Sure, you may have a ton of great prospects in the system, and a couple of good young players, but that's all they are at this point: prospects and young players. You can gab all you want about your high draft picks and the potential for success down the road, but in the end, that's all it is - gab and success POTENTIAL.

As a last point, I want to take you all back to the days of the "kid line" of Cogliano, Gagner, and Nilsson. I heard Oiler fans yak all day about how great the kid line is, and how every team should have one, and about how great they're going to be! Cogliano - bust. Nilsson - bust. Gagner - decent player, but nowhere near where you all seemed to think he would be.

What I'm saying is this: your prospects have to develop. Hall and Eberle are good young players, and RNH will be a great player in the league for sure, but don't go thinking that the "City of Champions" (LOL) isn't immune to making a Daigle-sized mistake. You're putting your faith in the hands of children.

You spend your time pointing the finger at the Flames' organization because you're afraid to face the truth: your future is no more certain than ours is.

So Vintage Flame are you saying that you would not trade our Flames team and prospects straight up for the Oilers team and prospects? I know that I would even if it means not making the playoffs for a few years. I would rather lose with young talent and potential then the old core we have now in Calgary.

With regards to the Oilers prospects, and I think I've said this before on this site, most Oiler fans know that they haven't done anything yet. They've shown promise, but a stable full of horses doesn't mean anything until you see them run. And we know this. For any Oiler fans who are running their mouth saying we'll be winning cups for years while Calgary is still trying to find a way to unload Hagman and Stajan, I apologize. Those fans are annoying even to me. They're the same kind of fan that says that the Canucks are the best team of the last decade, or even that Toronto is Canada's team and unites the country.

That being said, leveraging RNH at the draft for a defenceman sounds good, but frankly wasn't going to materialize into what we really needed. Tambellini did say he was open to trading the pick, just as he did last year, but offers for first overall's, in my opinion, haven't been as good since Cliff Fletcher and Mike Milbury left the league.

As for comments about the fanbase here being warped by buying into the rebuild all I can say is, we tried it the other way for years and it didn't work, so what's wrong with trying it this way now? Yes, some teams screw it up (Atlanta, Columbus, NYI) and some don't (Pit - with the exception of the Crosby lottery, Chicago, Detroit - when they drafted Yzerman) so instead of telling us that we're being stupid and naive, why don't we refrain come commenting until the team takes shape and begins to bring up these prospects over the next two years. If, in five years, we're throwing players overboard in trades like cheap ballast in an effort to compliment a few stars and get us over the top, like Columbus, or Toronto during the 00's, or even the Flames, then we can talk. But for right now, trying to tell an Oiler fan that his team is headed for disaster because we've supposedly pinned our hopes on Cam Barker is just wrong. We haven't. Cam Barker is to us what Brendan Morrison was to the Flames, a limited-effect gamble on a position of need. The expectation for Barker is he'll go from playing with Whitney (a pairing meant to give him confidence and the chance to get his feet under him again) to playing with Sutton or whomever on the 5-6 pairing.

As for the cap situation and VF's Oil spill of talent, well, better to have and not need. And having a spare top six winger or two that you can move for help in other areas is a good thing. Apparently even having a surplus of borderline 3rd and 4th line players can get you a top-pairing defenceman and a can't miss defensive prospect these days. What is Keith Aulie's ceiling, anyway?

Capped out.Not likely. Bulin will be off the books. Horcoffs contract gone. Gilberts 4 million a year gone. Hemsky will be gone and his 4-5 million per.Sourays 2,75 million gone. I'm counting what 23 million off the books by the time Hall and company start looking for thier second contract. Klefbom??? Who is he. A late first round pick who hasn't played a game in the NHL. Whitney. With 2 feet he'll put up 45 points this year.I would rather a stay at home d corps who can crash and bang. Oh wait that is what we are building. Whitney 6-3. Peckham 6-2. Petry 6-4.Sutton 6-6. And the band played on.Bulin is our biggest issue. I agree we need an upgrade in net. But don't 16 other NHL teams? BTW when is Kipper going to retire. Who do you have as his backup???

WHAT??? Hold on I'll be RIGHT back.. I have to actually read this again..

Okay.. Horcoff is signed at 5.5 Mil through 2014-15 iwith a NMC until 2013, where it becomes a modified NTC. So how exactly is he 'gone'. Even if he could be dealt, he is about as marketable as Matt Stajan.. So good luck.

Gilbert is signed at 4M per until 2014.. Where is he going. Who will take his $4M when he's not even worth a double double and a box of Timbits? Good luck with that too.

"Oh wait that is what we are building. Whitney 6-3. Peckham 6-2. Petry 6-4.Sutton 6-6. "
... And then? You think having tall D-men is the answer? Dude... Sutton will be 37 in March. What you think he's Nik Lidstrom? As for Peckham, Petry and Whitney.. Well the numbers don't seem to share your sentiment. None of those guys are 1-2 D-men.. soooo right back where we started and you need to get out the wallet.

The Oilers primary problem isn't necessarily that they are rebuilding...it's that the management group doing the rebuilding are the same rubes that crashed the ship into the iceberg in the first place.

What indications are there that T-bone and company have any idea of how to build a team around the collection of kids being terrible has got them? None from my angle. As Matt Fenwick said in January:

Here's how I imagine the conversation between Katz and Tambellini in mid-April after season's end, if Katz weren't too busy trying to get even richer in the land development business.

Katz: Well Steve, since your 2nd hiring in spring 2009, you've shown me that you can assemble a sh***y team accidentally, and that you can assemble a sh***y team deliberately. What do you plan to show me next? And please don't say something like, you can assemble a sh***y team, while on rollerskates.

The Oilers primary problem isn't necessarily that they are rebuilding...it's that the management group doing the rebuilding are the same rubes that crashed the ship into the iceberg in the first place.

What indications are there that T-bone and company have any idea of how to build a team around the collection of kids being terrible has got them? None from my angle. As Matt Fenwick said in January:

Here's how I imagine the conversation between Katz and Tambellini in mid-April after season's end, if Katz weren't too busy trying to get even richer in the land development business.

Katz: Well Steve, since your 2nd hiring in spring 2009, you've shown me that you can assemble a sh***y team accidentally, and that you can assemble a sh***y team deliberately. What do you plan to show me next? And please don't say something like, you can assemble a sh***y team, while on rollerskates.

Tambellini: [silence while he assesses Katz' question]

Kind of like what your management team is doing to the Flames right now. Hurry up and get really bad, draft really well and let's get the Battle Of Alberta party going. eh

you guys have no prospects, your best players are aging and not going to get value if they are not traded soon. I know they are going to be bad because edmonton was in the same situation in 07. and the only way to get out is to accept a full rebuild. the sooner the organization realizes it the better off the club will be.

backlund and bartschi sounds like a cup contender LOL

oh and it comes in cycles remember when we were beating your buts on route to stanley cups, edmonton will better soon, than calgary again and than edmonton and than calgary. only difference is right now we accepted that our team is bad and flames fans have not accpeted that theirs is bad too.

The only blog on this site that is getting any hits. Of course there's nothing like spot lighting another team to take the heat off your team.

This is a Flames site right?

Nothing like pointing out that the Oilers have way too many good young prospects to be able to afford them all in the future. What crappy problem to have. We're screwed I guess.
I'm sure someone with brains has mentioned that all these future expensive forwards might actually have value and we might actually get something of value and need in exchange for them.
Vintage you didn't pick a team just by random "Follow me (@edmontoncritic)" is stamped on the photos. This is a lame attempt to take the focus off the flames mediocre future. I'm guessing you're more of a Oilers hater then an actual Flames fan.

If I was an Flames Blogger I'd actually try and write something towards Calgary future. Instead of "The Oilers Suck no matter what they do" Blog.

It has been said that Edmonton has an inferiority complex when it comes to the esthetic qualities of the city. That's probably accurate. However, Vintage Flame seems to be expressing a similar sentiment that some Calgary fans may be feeling with regards to the dwindling talent pool of their hockey club. This article is dripping with insecurity.

Trading a #1 overall pick doesn't jive with the Oilers' current direction. They are not one d-man away from becoming a contender, regardless of which d-man that turns out to be. Getting rid of picks and prospects is what has landed the flames in their current situation. It would be a massive mistake for the Oilers to adapt this strategy at this point of the rebuild.

An underwhelming and irrational first article.
Nice photo shops. Glad to see you make the most of your free time.

What is this .. All Star years? Way to fudge your arguement. Forget Horcoff being a bad contract.. He's a BAD player. What does 50 pts in 53 games mean, when the year before he had 51 pts in 80 games and the year after he had 53 pts in 80 games. The best correlation you could draw from that is that the Oil would be better off playing him the first 2/3's of the season and then telling him to go home for the last 1/3.

People that say Horcoff is a bad player base their hockey judgment on fantasy production. Is he overpaid? You bet. If he was getting 3.75-4.25M you wouldn't be hearing about his contract. He wins faceoffs, plays with the toughs, kills penalties, and has a huge zone start differential. These don't show up on the boxscores but calling him a "bad" player misses the mark.

Horc's contract is Lowe's fault plain and simple because re-upping a guy a year before he had to and paying top tollar is nearly as bad as giving a 3-4th liner money, term and a NMC.

The good thing about Horc's contract is that the Oil have no cap issues so it only hurts Katz' pocketbook. Bad cap hits are a big deal if you are up against the cap. If you have tons of room then it doesn't hurt. Towards the end of the term if it becomes an issue he gets bought out, ends up in the minors or is traded to a team that needs cheaper cash years (his contract is front loaded) and a bigger cap hit to move up to the floor.

Wow....what a peice of biased crap that was. Thats the thing about the internet, any wank-off can get on here and spew venom at a rival. Wank-Off being You Vintage Flamer. Good Lawyers control the argument better than the other guy, right or wrong, thats all you are doing here. And really your not even controlling it, you are just the guy in charge who is trying to irk a few Oiler fans. I'll be sure to check back in 2 years when things really start to cook in Edmonton and You guys are making your 7th-12th Overall Pick for the... 4th, 5th time? I can't remember, and it does'nt matter.
Sarcasm is cool when your 19...You are just a loser fan/blogger of a loser team doing the typical LOSER thing that losers do when the thing they love is starting to Suck...Really Suck..."Lets sling Verbal Poop at someone that we think is weaker than we are, and that will actually care...this way attention is deflected for a moment, from how dire things are in our own backyard"...Only Edmonton Fans, Media, and anyone outside of the city knows that Edmonton has the most promising crop of talent in the league. Hockey News and NHL.com both list Edmontons Young Guys as the leagues best by a mile. And Calgary is in Dead Last.

While Your Post did stir up a hornets nest, Lets see if you can keep up this kind of interest for Years to come...I doubt it.

Yeah, really worried that the Oilers are totally screwed because some schmuck from Cowtown thinks so....pfffffffft!?

spoken like a true flames fan....IGNORANCE is bliss, but then again misery loves company, were with you right now or should I say your with us. Let's wait and see if Edmonton is Hepatitis ville in 2-3 years or if flames fans are secretly wanting there hated oil to go all the way.

point #4 you're bang on again - MASS exodus at the end of all these ELC's. - they'd better get that defense sorted out QUICK if they want the team to 'gel' enough to post a winning record, and bid to keep any of those kids around.

well i'll agree with you on one thing Shaner - a REAL battle of Alberta is LONG overdue - the WORLD needs to see what a true rivalry is all about. Ok i'll agree with you twice, but only because your post convinced me - the Flames won the cup in '04

As mentioned, the sad part about this is that our stock is rising constantly, all we do is aquire more strong assets (Google) where the flamers are in a serious downswing with not much hope. They could remain relevant for a long period of time but never win anything (RIM).

The last time there was a chance for a Battle of Alberta, the flames choked, as usual. Maybe in 3 years you guys can sneak into 8th and play the 1st place oilers.

I know that you guys like our castoffs (Glencross, Staios, Lombardi) but I think the only guy that we have left that we'd be happy to ditch in a couple years might be Sutton after his stint in OKC. He might still be too young though at the time, he'll only be 39!

First I AM NOT A FLAMES FAN!! Second, when I can't cheer for my Habs I am cheering for the Oilers. Regardless of how great they are (ahem - Gretzky, Messier, Fuhr days) or how disappointing a certain shot swigging goalie is, I still love them.

Finally, I voted for Vintage Flame and am glad I did. While I may not agree with all that he says, or the fact that he is a Flames fan, he is articulate and unlike most people, has a flare and talent for writing!

I look forward to future articles even and the Habs winning the Stanley Cup!!

spoken like a true flames fan....IGNORANCE is bliss, but then again misery loves company, were with you right now or should I say your with us. Let's wait and see if Edmonton is Hepatitis ville in 2-3 years or if flames fans are secretly wanting there hated oil to go all the way.

suck it vintage flame

Thank you. I'm glad I can live up to what my Bio reads ;)

As to 2-3 years down the road.. well that was the point of the article. As it stands the Oil have 1 guy signed through 2014-15, and that's Shawn Horcoff at $5,000,000. Good grief! If that slug makes 5 Mil, how are the Oilers going to afford the "Fab 5"? Blood from a stone my friend!

I've been out of pocket for the last couple of days, but first off, congratulations, VF, and welcome aboard.

Second, I can't begin to express how happy I am that you used your first real post to troll our friends from Stinktown, or as a co-worker of mine once referred to it, "The Pas with parking meters." Keep up the good work.

Our best prospects are playing already but we have PLENTY to come... That's what flames fan has NO IDEA about though!

Its gunna be WAVE after WAVE of talent coming through, we'll lose MPS after our first cup, then have Pitlick or Lander or Hamilton to still go along with Hall, Ebs, RNH, Hartikainen,Hemsky. Its not like we wont get anything for Omark and Gagner if they had to leave, while the flames will be BEGGING Sutter (AKA The Jolly Rancher) to come back and bring you losers back to 8th place where you were having SUCH a good time losing in the first round year after year.

Goaltending - Tyler Bunz just attended the World Junior Camp and the reebok goalie camp. The only bad thing was that Luon8o was there. But he's a beauty, between he, Dubnyk and Roy it should be a similar situation to LaBarbera, Bernier and Quick.

Keep in mind the future of this team [Flames] will look dramatically different after next year. With roughly 20-25 million coming off the books in cap space, who knows what direction they will persue?

That direction will be dictated by where the Flames are prior to the trade deadline and not really with the cap space at seasons end. If in a solid playoff spot they might trade a asset for a boost but that may not be wise - who knows. If they are out of it they could unload some players and grab a few 2nd and/or 3rd rounders in a deep draft. That would be your best case scenario. If on the bubble (most likely) you will do nothing. This will lead to 14th or 15th pick with no 2nd rounder and no picks for the players who just finished their contracts.